Luckily, no one was killed or injured, but the consequences could have been disastrous when an armed detention officer with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department accidentally fired his pistol in the men’s bathroom at the county jail in downtown Greensboro.
The bullet traveled through the wall of the bathroom, across the hall, and lodged into the door of the jail’s Transportation Office. That’s the division of the department that transports inmates between jails, to court, to hospitals and to other destinations.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, at about lunchtime, an officer who was using the restroom was adjusting his pants after rising from the toilet, and, before doing so, he took his pistol – most likely a Glock – out of its holster and placed it on the bathroom floor while he adjusted his pants.
When in a holster, a Guilford County Sheriff’s Office firearm will not discharge; however, once removed from the duty belt, there’s no safety and the gun is loaded and live.
As the officer stood up and grabbed his pistol from the restroom floor, he accidentally pressed the trigger. The gun went off and the bullet went through the wall of the jail bathroom and into the door of the Transportation Office.
Thankfully, though there was damage to the bathroom wall and door, no one was hurt.
The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t made any public statement regarding the accidental discharge in the bathroom – just as the Office didn’t inform the public last week when a man charged with a violent crime escaped from the jail and remained on the loose for five days.
This is at least the second time this year in which an officer accidentally discharged his weapon. Earlier in 2024, another officer, in what could have been a very tragic situation, accidentally discharged his gun in the cafeteria.
In that case as well, luckily, no one was hurt or killed.
Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers has implemented a program in which all detention officers must, at some point in their training, travel around with the armed inmate transportation crews in order to observe first-hand what the Transportation Office does and learn how it operates.
Detention officers working in the jail with inmates don’t carry firearms; however, in certain situations outside of handling the inmate population – such as when they’re working with the inmate transportation staff to observe those practices – they may do so.
One former law enforcement officer said that, while detention officers are sometimes armed, they don’t have the same type of training with firearms that patrol officers have.
“They may have less experience than sworn patrol officers because they don’t go through the same training sworn officers do,” he said, adding that this should be a concern on the training to prepare them to carry a gun while employed with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office.
It’s interesting that, this summer, when the Guilford County commissioners were considering making the pay of detention officers the same as patrol officers, one of the arguments some commissioners made for not doing so was that the detention officers don’t go through the same extensive training patrol officers do.
Also, the process of hiring detention officers is completely different than that pf hiring sworn patrol officers.
In North Carolina, the distinction between sworn and unsworn officers in a sheriff’s department mainly revolves around legal authority and the type of duties they perform.
Sworn Officers in the Sheriff’s office have full law enforcement authority, including the ability to make arrests, carry firearms, and enforce laws.
They’re “sworn” because they’ve taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States and North Carolina. Also, they’re required to complete the State of North Carolina’s Basic Law Enforcement Training and maintain certification through the North Carolina Sheriff’s Education and Training Standards Commission.
Sworn officers handle a wide range of duties in the department, including patrolling the streets, conducting investigations, enforcing traffic laws, handing out warrants and responding to emergencies.
Unsworn deputies, on the other hand, don’t have the authority to make arrests –and they aren’t trained or certified as law enforcement officers.
Usually, they perform administrative or clerical roles or provide support roles such as dispatching patrol cars, keeping records, handling evidence or working as detention officers in the jails.
Give your bullet back to Andy, Deputy Fife.
Barney Fide was faaaar more competent than Cowboy Danny.
There was a similar incident in the dining room about a year ago, and another at the Greene Street building a few years ago. The quality of applicants & staff is not what it once was! Just grateful no one was hurt or worse.
Gonna have to go back to Mayberry with 6 shot revolvers unloaded with a bullet in
The shirt pocket.
Those incidents are just the tip of the iceberg, unreported by Rogers or his agency. How many more are there? Detention services are hazardous for staff and inmates. Recall the violent attack on an older officer by an inmate two years ago? Despite his ongoing struggles, they deny him disability. He’s been unable to work for two years. Why won’t they approve disability, who still suffers after the brutal Detention Center attack two years ago? I hear he’s had to take a major deduction in pay and pay his own health care even though it’s at the complete fault of the detention services for not being staffed. Rogers doesn’t care. He makes $17,000 a month.
The statement about a Glock not having a safety is not correct. It has three safeties when out of the holster. First, the spring that causes the firing pin to strike the primer of a loaded round is not compressed to give it the energy to work untill the trigger is depressed. Second, the trigger has a safety built into it, the weapon won’t fire unless the safety in the trigger is depressed before the trigger starts to move. Third, anyone handling a firearm NEVER puts their finger on the trigger unless they are willing to fire a round at a known target for what ever the intended effect is.
BS !
Those are not proper safeties. I used to lust after Glocks because of their indestructible reliability and toughness… until I held one and realised that I would probably shoot my leg when drawing the pistol. If you accidentally place your finger on the trigger instead of the trigger guard (just half an inch apart), you will discharge the gun as you pull it out.
GLOCKS ARE UNSAFE. And this is an example of it.
It seems like whenever we hear about an accidental discharge a Glock is involved.
A heavier trigger pull pressure or a pistol with an external safety should be employed.
A secret service agent in DC had an AD last week and shot himself. More practice time
would help also.
At least with a Glock a trigger has to be pulled compaired to say a Sig Sauer…just saying. Glocks are as good as the officers carrying them. When Armed Detention Officers were implemented when Barnes was in office the officers that were selected were highly scrutinized before being sent to training. Just about any officer that wants to carry a gun is sent to training now.
And its not just detention officers either. Remember a couple years ago a deputy was shot in the buttocks by a fellow deputy when they were out for target practice in another county while off duty.
Glocks are unsafe. They don’t have a real Safety.
Revolvers don’t have safeties either and most gun enthusiast would consider them very safe. This wasnt accidental. It was negligence. Know your weapon and keep your finger off the trigger.
True, but revolvers have a long, heavy trigger pull as you lever back the hammer prior to releasing it. Glocks have a light, easy, and short trigger pull, with no hammer to draw back.
Complacency has no place in the world of ANYONE carrying a firearm. That’s exactly what happened in both of these cases and the deputies should be disciplined.
Under Danny Rogers the Guilford Country Sheriff’s Department has become The Keystone Cops.
They are a joke because their leader is a walking joke who likes to dress up like a cowboy and has the intellect and maturity of a seven year old.
This is a total bunch of junk in Guilford County. I hope Billy Queen runs for Sheriff again. He has a resume of managing large groups of people on the Federal level, and all those employees I believe have to have a least a 4-year degree. He needs to consider running again and bring Professionalism, Integrity and Transparency back to the Sheriff’s Office, like when BJ Barnes had it. We don’t need the good old boy network from inside. It needs a fresh start at the top.
Well something like that happened to me; pretty much the same thing, but different.
I accidently fired my gun in the bathroom, too; but it came to a happy ending.
Hmmm….did you report on every accidental discharge that occurred under the previous sheriff? At least the detention officer didn’t leave his duty weapon on the back of a toilet in a public business as the former Sheriff Barnes’ Chief Deputy had reportedly done. Maybe you should go back and gather info on all jail escapes, accidental discharges, guns left in public places and officers charged with offenses under the previous administration and do a comparison. At least the ones that were actually made public. Those things happened under the previous sheriff so it’s not like this is something new.
That hole in the wall in the pic seems pretty high for a gun that went off on the floor or relatively close to the floor.
You have some, albeit few, Detention Officers who have carried responsibility & trained with firearms extensively since 2006. Most of those folks have as much or more training and carry as responsibly (if not more so) than any sworn deputy there. They do just as dangerous a job, if not more so, than any sworn deputy there. These folks get overlooked, disrespected & $#!+ on every way they turn by inmates, and more so by sworn staff in their own department. Not so much Patrol Deputies, but especially the sworn so called command staff as pathetic as they are these days.
These accidents happen way more frequently than reported, and by staff in every public safety role across the agency.
Most seasoned, long time Detention Officers are the peak of professionalism & integrity. Don’t let an incident like this label all those hard working individuals.
How fortunate we are to live in Greensboro and Guilford County. I’ll sleep better tonight.
A weapon like the Sig-Sauer 226, a double/single action pistol would make more sense for instances where deployment of a firearm is an occasional requirement. Even though it doesn’t have an external safety, the double action gives the trigger added resistance on a first shot, so if you do put your finger on the trigger, it is less likely to result in an unwanted discharge, than from a striker fired pistol like the Glock.
Firearm safety seems to rank low in training; there are numerous accounts of officers injuring someone while cleaning an ‘unloaded’ firearm. I personally know of an officer who discharged his weapon while practicing his “Quick Draw McGraw” moves, luckily only destroying his mirror. Firearms are an essential tool, like a hammer. Misuse a hammer, you will hurt your fingers but unlike a hammer, misuse or poor training with a firearm can get you or someone else dead.
There is a sentence missing. It should read; “The gun went off and the bullet went through the wall of the jail bathroom and into the door of the Transportation Office.”…”the officer subsequently sat back down and completely evacuated his bowels at that time…”. You must always ALWAYS respect a firearm!
I carried a 1911 model a2 45 ACP for over 15 years carried it caught and with the safety on it lot never once that I have them accidental discharge with that pistol never had an accidental discharge with the revolver either for that matter that I carried before that I don’t understand why these so-called Glocks with their safety on them can discharge accidentally the only way that pistol can go off and fire is when somebody pulls the trigger on it get real people some of these idiots in Salem course I county and Guilford county have working for him just don’t know and don’t care
1911s have a positive safety that is functional, yet easy and instantly disabled in an emergency.
Glocks are forever ADing.
Not AD…negligent discharge. Have you ever even carried a Glock?
You couldn’t PAY me to carry a Glock.
And dancing on the head of a pin by debating the semantics of “Accidental Discharge” Vs. “Negligent Discharge” is just silly. It’s the unintended firing of a handgun – and Glocks are particularly likely to do it.
[Deleted]-ing keystone cops,sheriff on down sucks
I encourage the sheriff to require his detention officers to get more firearms trng. I’m glad no people were injured.
Not AD…negligent discharge. Have you ever even carried a Glock?
Without ever carrying a glock your argument is pointless. Your just going by what youve heard or read which if thats the case all the liberal rhetoric is true. Accidentally vs Negligent is entirely important. He waa negligent in not storing his weapon in a lock box or his vehicle, he waa negligent in pulling it out of his holster and laying it on the floor, and he was negligent in putting his finger on the trigger. He purposely pulled the trigger.
So you’re saying he intended to do this..??? Sorry buddy, nobody’s buying that – because it’s obviously false.
And I’ve had plenty of experience with Glocks. I don’t like them, and they’re dangerous.
That’s why I’ve never acquired one. I know what I’m talking about, despite your baseless attempt to suggest that I don’t have a right to make my argument.
Glocks are overhyped crap.
…and inherently unsafe.